Day-Care Center For Sick Children

As a neonatal intensive-care nurse, Lisa Schwartz frequently saw the problem: parents of chronically ill youngsters could not find a day-care center for them.

To help meet this need, in 1985 Ms. Schwartz founded Cradles and Crayons Daycare here. The center is believed to be the only nonprofit day-care center for children with special needs in the country.

About 30 children, 6 weeks to 6 years old, are now enrolled. Seventy percent of them have special needs; among them are infants with sleeping and breathing disorders and toddlers with tracheotomies. The remaining 30 percent have no disability.

''I think the real beginning of all of this started with changes in newborn intensive care,'' said Cheryl Harris, a member of the center's board. ''Over the past 20 years there have been innovations that have allowed us to save more and more babies. This has created a group of children with chronic health needs.''

One of them was Maureen McGurn. Her parents had been waiting a year and a half for the occasion. Maureen, now 3 1/2, was born with an eating disorder, which required that she be constantly watched because she might easily choke.

Maureen had first entered day care when she was 6 months old and her mother returned to work. A few months later, Mrs. McGurn found her daughter choking when she went to pick her up, so the family decided to make other arrangements. Mrs. McGurn and her husband then made dozens of calls but could find no one with the proper training who was willing to care for Maureen.

''Here we had a kid with some moderate special needs with no place to go,'' Mrs. McGurn said. The couple said they the only solution was for Mr. McGurn to quit his job to take care of their daughter.

Then Cradles and Crayons came to the rescue, and Maureen is still enrolled there. ''I think Maureen has benefited in a lot of ways,'' Mrs. McGurn said. ''Without it, she wouldn't have the opportunity to play with other children. All the kids in that room also have an amazing sensitivity to people with physical problems.''

At the center, there are four staff nurses and an adult-to-child ratio of 1 to 4. While child-care workers conduct games and sessions in music and art, like those found in other preschool centers, the nurses monitor the children's medications, physical therapy and other health needs. Toys are carefully disinfected, and youngsters with communicable diseases are isolated.

Mrs. Harris said the center also provides respite for parents whose children have a disability. ''I think one of the benefits is that it is psychologically good for many of these parents to get a break from caring for their children,'' she said.

But for many of the parents, day care is a necessity. Take, for example, Donna Janes, a single working mother, and her daughter, Jocelyn, who has spina bifida. ''I don't know what I would do if they didn't have this service,'' Ms. Janes said. ''I don't have to worry about Jocelyn all day.''

Her only complaint: she wishes that the center's $100-a-week rate were lower.

Nevertheless, Cradles and Crayons ''gives me incredible peace of mind,'' Ms. Janes said. ''I know Jocelyn's having a good time,'' she said, ''with people who know how to care for her.''

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A version of this article appears in print on July 2, 1987, on Page C00009 of the National edition with the headline: Day-Care Center For Sick Children. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe